Nelnet Student Loans

Think Twice Before Borrowing from This Lender

When I graduated from college in 2005, I knew I had to pay off my loans six months from that date. What I didn't know was that was when the nightmare began. Imagine being called all hours of the day and evening by harassing people wanting you to consolidate your student loans. See, I can understand one time, but I was getting phone calls three, four, five times a week. Every time I said "no!" or "Don't call here anymore!," was just like adding fuel to the fire. I also put it in writing not to call me anymore, as well, as spoke with an account representative numerous times and asked to be on the "do not call for anything other than payment" list.

I was given the third degree "Why" or "Are you happy with what you are paying now?" routine. First off, as long as you all of receiving your payment on time, that is none of your business. Yes, my interest rate magically changed to 7.2% from the 3.86% I took out when I was in college (found out the rate was variable). However, to be constantly harassed about loan consolidation was a nightmare. I even went so far as to delete my phone number from my account information on their website, but the calls still kept coming. I found out that I was no longer eligible for consolidation when it reached $7,000; so I knew I had no choice but to pay it down.

Unfortunately when I looked at some of my payments, I began to cry. You see, I would pay my $100 payment due and some months, $100 was going straight to interest. Therefore, if I was ever going to escape this, I had to really do something I didn't want to do: meaning I had to eliminate every non-essential bill from my life. I only borrowed $12,000, but magically when it came time to pay it back, it was over $14,000 (Stafford, mostly subsidized too.)

Now I sit here, with no car, as I had to eliminate that payment and insurance. Thanks Nelnet! Nonetheless, the phone calls have stopped though, as I am now under $5500 with my balance, that I was supposed to have 10 years to pay off. But, I could not even answer the phone, as I knew it was always them. Word to the wise: borrow as little as possible, or make sure you borrow from different lender under the consolidation amount.